Lop Nur is the second largest inland lake in China, with an altitude of 780 meters and an area of 2,400-3,000 square kilometers. It is famous for the ancient Silk Road in the east of Tarim Basin.
The ancient Lop Nur was born at the end of the third century and the beginning of the Quaternary, which has been more than 2 million years. The vast lake sedimentary area and salt desert used to be its territory, covering an area of more than 20 thousand square kilometers. Under the influence of neotectonic movement, the lake basin rose from south to north and was divided into several depressions. Lop Nur is the lowest and largest depression in the north, and was once the center of water accumulation in Tarim Basin. Rivers originating from Tianshan, Kunlun and Altun Mountains in ancient times poured into Luobu depression to form lakes. The largest area of Lop Nur in history is 5350 square kilometers. In March 1 (1942), the area measured on the topographic map of1500,000 made by the Soviet Union was 3,006 square kilometers. 1958 The provincial map of China covers an area of 2,570 square kilometers. 1962, and its area is 660 square kilometers on aerial survey 1 and 200,000 topographic map. 1972, the last trunk part is 450 square kilometers.
The water injected into Lop Nur mainly includes Tarim River, Peacock River, Cherqin River and Milan River. At the same time, it is partly replenished by the melting water of Qilian Mountain glacier, which is injected into the lake from the east through Shule River. In addition, there are seasonal rivers flowing into the northern foot of Altun Mountain. When these rivers flow into Lop Nur, a large number of lakes are left along the way, such as stars arching the moon and sanitation surrounding Lop Nur, the largest of which are Kara Heshun Lake and taitema lake in the south of Lop Nur.
Taitema lake, Kara, Shunhu and Lop Nur are all connected by rivers. After the Tarim River and Qierqin River are injected into taitema lake, they can flow into Kala Heshun Lake along the bifurcated riverbed extending downward at the end of Tarim River. Between Kara and Heshun Lake and Lop Nur, there is a 40-kilometer-long river with an outlet of 800 meters wide and a riverbed depth of 1 meter. When entering Lop Nur, the river bed is scattered, with a depth of 30-50 cm and a height difference of10m.
Lop Nur has many names, some of which have been named according to its characteristics since the pre-Qin period, such as Ling Ze, Yanze and Ganhai. Some are named after its location, such as Pu Changhai, Prison Blue Ocean and Peacock Sea. In addition, there are other names, such as Fu, Lin Hai and Na Jinbo. After the Yuan Dynasty, it was called Luobu Naoer, the land of "Luobu", which means the land of water in the ancient Uighur language. Mongolian "Naoer" means a lake, and both of them roughly mean a lake with water.
Lop Nur Lake District, which has been blocked by quicksand, Ya Dan and salt crust since ancient times, is a mysterious place with dangerous roads and few people. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Shan Hai Jing recorded the location and water source of Lop Nur for the first time in words: "Busi Mountain looks at the neighboring mountains in the north, rushing to the nearby mountains in the next month and facing the river in the east." It is pointed out that Lop Nur (Luo Ze) is in the east of Conglin Mountain (a thoughtless mountain). "Dunpai West Water flows into Ling Ze, and Chaos River is built from the southwest." The former is now Kaidu River and Peacock River; The latter comes from the rivers in the southern margin of Tarim Basin. "Chaos River" reflects the criss-crossing of rivers into a network at that time.
Lop Nur in the Han Dynasty was "three hundred li wide, and with its water pavilion, it did not increase or decrease in winter and summer". Its richness makes people guess that it "sneaks underground, and the stones in the south are the Huahe River." This misconception that Lop Nur is the source of the Yellow River has been circulating for more than 2,000 years from pre-Qin to late Qing Dynasty. By the 4th century AD, Loulan, the western part of Lop Nur, which was once known as "the flood must be heard", was in a tense situation where water was restricted by law. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Lop Nur was only "80-90 kilometers long from east to west and 20-30 miles wide from north to south" when it rose, and it was a small lake. 192 1 year, the Tarim River diverted eastward to Lop Nur. By the 1950s, the area of the lake had reached more than 2,000 square kilometers. Lop Nur finally dried up at 1972 due to the influence and intervention of human economic activities. In recent 40 years, the area of cultivated land in lake confluence area has increased sharply, and the water consumption has doubled. More than ten dams have been gradually built in the upper reaches of the Peacock River, from Aksu, Shamuyiman, Yamuyiman, Yahaner, Reform-through-labor Farm, Magonor to Laomazha, and six dams have blocked the river, leading the Peacock River into the agricultural reclamation irrigation area. Secondly, many reservoirs have been built in the middle and lower reaches of the main rivers at the source of Tarim River to intercept the river. There are 206 large, medium and small reservoirs built and put into use in the Tarim Basin, and 19 large and medium-sized reservoirs have been built only on the main stream of the Tarim River, basically realizing the interception of the Tarim River. 1962, the Daxihaizi Reservoir, which was built in the upper downstream section, has actually become the tail of the Tarim River, shortening the Tarim River by 180 kilometers. At the end of 1960s, Lop Nur gradually dried up due to the cut-off of the lower reaches of Tarim River and Peacock River, and the lake basin became a vast salt crust, and plants died in the lakeside area, and the lower reaches of Tarim River and Peacock River became places for sandstorm activities.
In modern times, some foreigners who entered Lop Nur described Lop Nur as a "wandering lake". 1876, after inspecting the lower reaches of Tarim River, Russian military officer Pule Geval mistakenly identified Kara Heshun Lake as Lop Nur recorded in ancient books in China. His students, kozlov and Stan in England, supported him. German geographer Van Richthofen holds the opposite view. Then Swindin, a Swede, systematically put forward a set of theory about "wandering" in Lop Nur, and thought that the cycle of wandering from north to south was 1500 years, which was the result of the uplift of sediments around the lake bottom and the reduction of wind erosion. This wandering legend has long been accepted by Chinese and foreign scholars. In addition to Swinheding, American Hungenton put forward the theory of "profit and loss lake", China scholar Chen Zongqi put forward the view of "alternate lake", and Soviet geologist Sinicun tried to explain it by tectonic movement. The debate on the vagrancy of Lop Nur lasted for a century. According to ancient Chinese records, Lop Nur's orientation was basically the same from Qin Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, Records of Waterways in the Western Regions, Introduction to Heyuan and Land Latitude and Latitude all accurately recorded that Lop Nur was between 40℃ and 4 1℃ north latitude. The height difference between taitema lake, Kara, Shunhu and Lop Nur makes it impossible for it to migrate from north to south. Through the field investigation of China scientists in recent years, it is confirmed that Lop Nur is the lowest point and catchment area of Tarim Basin, and the lake will not flow backwards. There is very little sediment entering the lake (only 1.5 m in 3600), which becomes a solid salt shell after drying up, and the topography of the lake bottom will not change dramatically in a short time. Dating and sporopollen analysis of lake bottom sediments show that Lop Nur has been the catchment center of Tarim Basin for a long time. This shows that the vagrancy theory is an unrealistic inference.
In the past two thousand years, many Chinese and foreign explorers visited Lop Nur, wrote many monographs and famous articles, and published some reports on Lop Nur. However, due to various limitations and prejudices, many mistakes have also been made, which has painted a mysterious color on Lop Nur. In recent years, with the efforts of scientists in China, the truth that Lop Nur does not wander has been revealed.